


Piano Partner

by DearOne



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-13 09:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearOne/pseuds/DearOne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is Derek. Stiles is Stiles. There is a piano. Things happen. Stuff is implied.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Piano Partner

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the end of season 2. Inspired by a tumblr post by darain39. 
> 
>  
> 
> Initally posted [h e r e](http://lookslikepoetry.tumblr.com/post/49921364241/darain39-can-we-just-talk-about-this-they).

"Fuck, when will it end?"  _These thoughts._  He never felt so alone. His mind an endless stream of voices of those he lost.

Weary bones and screaming muscles brought him to his underground hideout. He'll have to clear out of this place soon. Too many memories here of trying to build his own makeshift family only to have it torn apart.

_Can't do anything right. Can't keep anyone safe._

_Dead. Gone. Everyone leaves._

He sank into the first seat that he came across, a beat up piano bench. He saved it from being dumped along with its piano partner. He thought of restoring it but then had decided it was fine as is. It may be beaten and worn but it still had all its parts. It was still beautiful.

He closed his eyes and gently laid his fingers atop the keys. His mother used to make him take piano lessons when he was younger. Oh, how he hated it. He didn't see the point of it. Music. _Music wasn't going to keep my family safe,_ he remembered thinking.

He pressed his fingers down. Random notes startled him from his thoughts as if he wasn't expecting for sound to be the result of him striking keys. He let the sounds carry down the tunnel he was in, echoing until it faded into the distance before he lifted his fingers away from the keys. 

Minutes passed before he moved again. This time he brushed his fingers gently across, careful not to press anything until he arranged his fingers over the white keys like he was taught so many years ago. 

_How does it go again?_

Without a second thought, he allowed his fingers to think for him. Moving across keys. Pressing and lifting. Letting the music fill his ears until he wasn't hearing anything at all.

It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he realized that his fingers stopped moving. Only they were shaking now. He curled his hands into fists to force them to stop.

Did he forget how to play? How could he not remember his mother's favorite song? He growled in frustration.

"Play it again."

He stood up, animal instincts kicking in. Almost instantly. _Almost._ Fangs were out. A growl ready at his throat until he realized who it was.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," the intruder said.

"You didn't." He hated how his voice sounded defeated. He was defeated. He sat back down at the piano, facing away from the teen who managed to sneak up on him. _Kill me now_ , he wanted to say. He felt so powerless.

"What's so funny?"

He didn't even realize that he was laughing until the kid who wasn't a kid pointed it out to him. "Nothing." But it was something, he was laughing at the joke he turned into. A joke of a man, a werewolf who couldn't even be bothered to protect himself anymore. "You did," he heard himself saying. "You did scare me."

"That song you were playing, 'Imagine,' could you play it again?"

He was grateful, but tormented over the change of subject. "Why are you here, Stiles?" Saying his name gutted him even more. _How dare he come here and hear me play. How dare he come to see me. And for what? What good am I to him? How dare he make me think these thoughts and make them real. How dare he..._

Stiles cleared his throat, the sound cutting and biting, almost as loud as his out of tune piano made moments earlier.

"Go home, Stiles. It's not... It's not safe here."

He waited and waited to hear the boy turn and walk away. He didn't dare look back and check, afraid of what he would see written on his face. After time passed in silence, he thought maybe Stiles did leave. He imagined him leaving, he wanted for him to leave and almost fooled himself into thinking that he did because why would he stay? But no, the sound of his heart persisted. It pounded in his ears. "I don't remember how to play."

"You were playing just fine earlier."

He let out an uneasy breath. "Did I--did you hear me play till the end earlier? I wasn't paying attention. I might have forgotten." He couldn't believe that he was asking at all. But he needed to know now. For some reason being able to finish the song was important to him.

"You stopped playing at the last bit."

He could feel Stiles at his back now.

"I could--You know, I could help you with the rest of it. I mean, if you want. I'm better playing the guitar but..."

Stiles didn't finish what he was saying but in the corner of his eye he saw that he made his way onto the bench. His fingers brushing over the keys. Pressing and testing it at first before playing a few other notes.

And then silence.

Derek could feel Stiles' heavy gaze on him and it took him a solid minute before meeting the younger man's eyes. And then just like that his thoughts disappeared. And his fingers found its place on the keys once more.

And then with Stiles playing one hand and he, the other, music began to fill the empty space. 

_Imagine there's no heaven_

_It's easy if you try_

_No hell below us_

_Above us only sky_

_Imagine all the people_

_Living for today..._

(tbc?)

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, don't mind me. (i just saw this post and thought, why not go with it? with all the drama going on, i thought i might retreat to the world that is in my head. and then this thing wrote itself.)
> 
> P.S. I know, the pic/prompt called for Stiles playing the guitar but in this particular scene, I was thinking that Stiles wouldn't have thought to bring his guitar along. Maybe next time... ;)
> 
> Want to prompt me for a short fic like this while I try to get rid of my writer's block? Put one in my ask box at my tumblr: [lookslikepoetry](http://lookslikepoetry.tumblr.com/). If I'm inspired, I'll write it XD


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